


Old Blood of the New World

by Bojack27



Category: Bloodborne (Video Game), Dorohedoro
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:42:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 20,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27087277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bojack27/pseuds/Bojack27
Summary: Where there is smoke, there is fire. Where there is blood, there is slaughter. Thus has ever been, but has since fallen into a dreamless slumber. But now a new world calls and the Old Blood has answered. A new hunt begins anew, madness waking and welcoming chaos for all who see beyond the thin veil of reality.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	1. Chapter 1

Old Blood of the New World

Chapter 1: Unfurling Chaos

Screams most horrific filled the alleyway, yet none escaped Maru’s lips. Though a part of him desperately wished to let out even the tiniest of squeaks, the air in his lungs refused to leave its cramped dwellings. Clogging his throat till he almost choked on his own stale breath. But another part of him was glad that he couldn’t inhale anything. If he did, he knew he would’ve gagged on the stench that fumed from the gaping corpses that littered the tightly narrow corridor. What started out as a group of five, including a Sorcerer who ambushed them moments earlier, only Maru remained. Limbs ripped apart, torn askew, guts mashed together into a squishy goo, and blood painting the run down walls till it dripped into a river of crimson. It couldn’t be described as a simple murder, a serial killing performed by a mad man, or even an experiment gone wrong by a Sorcerer.

It was a _slaughter_.

And there, at the center of carnage, was the blood-stained beast. It was unlike anything Maru had ever seen; bending over on all fours with sharp claws to easily rip open fragile flesh and gorged upon soft entrails. Bones snapped painfully with every crunch from its horrible jaw, allowing its dagger-like fangs, sharper and more terrible than anything in Hole, to easily tear apart the organs and other soft bits that made for its meal. Even in the dark of the night, Maru could clearly see those awful fangs. However flickering light from a nearby decrepit lamppost illuminated the rest of the horror in fitful bouts of power. It had dark black fur that, though matted and stained with blood, easily melded with the shadows of the alley, as if the thing was part of darkness itself. Yet the worse thing, Maru thought with what little functioning part of his brain that hadn’t been overtaken by overwhelming fear, was its eyes. They were pure white and glowed unnaturally even in the shadows. Just staring at the cold, insatiable, and blood thirsty whites froze Maru’s very soul.

 _Why... Why did this happen to me?!_ His thoughts repeated the same question over and over till his brain felt like it was pounding its way out of his skull. Of course, there was no answer. It was just the cruel twist of fate that he happened to be out drinking with his friends that night and took a wrong turn back home. He thought that the Sorcerer that had stopped them was by far the worst thing that was going to happen, but before the man could unleash his smoke, that’s when _it_ struck. Gutting him from behind till its claws protruded out the man’s chest, the Sorcerer didn’t have the chance to scream as the beast tore into his throat with dreadful hunger. However Maru’s friends made up for the lack of audible terror, yelling and screaming at the horror that unfurled in front of them before turning to flee. That was their first and last mistake. Throwing the Sorcerer’s bloody body into the wall with popping splat, the beast lunged forth, tearing into everyone until only Maru remained. All he could do was cower into some nearby garbage, completely petrified, and prayed to God that he wouldn’t be next as the beast devoured the ruined bodies.

Fate, or perhaps even God himself, proved to be a cruel master. The beast looked up from its putrid feast, its unnatural whites gleaming in the faint light. It snarled menacingly, a horrid sound that sent Maru’s flesh crawling, before skulking forward. Every step it took over the torn entrails set off a sickening squish and sometimes a faint pop as it drew closer. After all the devilish quick movements it made earlier, Maru knew immediately that it was now just toying with him. Or perhaps simply savoring the gushing fear that leaked out of its prey in more ways than one. Either way, Maru made one last silent prayer, still unable to find the courage to breathe, and waited for his horrific end to come.

The beast was ten paces away now and already a claw extended out to pierce Maru’s bloodshot eyes. Yet it stopped just short a single centimeter from its target. Flinching from the pointy tip, Maru blinked in wonderment. _Why… did it stop?_ He should be dead and yet the thing had yet to move to finish the job. Suddenly the beast pulled back, confusing its prey even further before sniffing the air. Taking in a few throaty breaths, the thing growled and then suddenly turned. Blinking at the abrupt change, Maru’s mind still tried to process what just happened until he saw something over the beast, deep within the dark beyond the lamplight.

Heavy taps echoed throughout the alleyway, drawing closer before a tall figure walked out of the dark. It was a man. Dressed from head to toe in dark clothing, he wore a gray duster coat that covered up most of his body, leaving open his chest that allowed Maru to see a belt that held all kinds of savage-looking tools. Metal braces adorn his black gauntlets and his leather boots were strange and foreign in design though Maru could see the age they held and the scars that covered them. Atop his head was a frayed tricorn hat that shadowed the upper half of his face while the lower half was covered up by a black bandana. In his right hand looked like a cleaver, yet the edge was jagged with ridges, while the left held an ancient pistol from a time long forgotten. Despite the fact he couldn’t see his face that well, not helped by the darkness and the distance between them, Maru could see one last thing that made him shudder. It was the man’s blood red eyes that glared unflinchingly at the beast.

The creature barked and growled at the man which shocked Maru. Its cries up to this point were ones of malicious intent and predatory hunger, but now… Now it sounded _cornered_. Suddenly it howled, an earsplitting shriek that forced Maru to slap his hands over his ears. Yet the newcomer didn’t flinch. If anything the man took a step forward, a quick gait that didn’t go unnoticed. Not even finished with its howl, the creature lunged at the man, its claws scrapping along the walls of the narrow corridor with an angry hiss. To Maru’s utter amazement, the sharp, flesh tearing digits never found their target.

Swift as the night itself, the stranger closed the distance before the monster could and slammed his saw into its side. Though his next motion was quick as lightning, Maru shuddered at the painful _rip_ that erupted along with the chunk of torn flesh and bloody hide. The beast howled painfully, sweeping its claws around in fury, causing sparks to shine from rusted pipe and aged stone. Yet once again they couldn’t find their mark. Pulling back for a moment, the stranger stood still as the beast lunged forth again, its arms wide open in horrible imitation of a hug. At the last second, just when the monster’s sickly saliva nearly touched him, the man raised his gun and fired. Stumbling back with a pained wheeze, the beast clawed at the air, not noticing the baseball sized hole that bore into its chest. It was at that moment Maru could see a change in its eyes. No longer were they the eyes of a terror of the night. Now all he could see was the dreadful fear of prey facing an even more terrifying hunter.

With that realization in mind, the beast twitched back, but it was far too late. The stranger closed the distance again, his arm raised back before impaling it into his prey’s heart. Great geysers of blood gushed out of the wound, splattering the walls and the man himself in a dark red hue. No sound escaped the creature for it didn’t have the time to even draw breath. One second the man’s hand was in its chest, the next yanking it out with the tattered and gory remnants of the heart. Like a deadwood tree finally succumbing to rot, the beast fell back with a heavy thud, its blood soaking the very stone of Hole. Without pause to admire his work, the stranger took out a device from under his coat—looking something like a blowtorch—before dousing the body in fire. The stench that erupted from the burning remains was suffocating.

Maru couldn’t move, couldn’t think. A part of him, deep down and buried under a cascade of emotion, felt relieved and happy that he miraculously survived the night. Yet in truth all he could feel in that moment was nothing. Numbness took him, not just as a result of his friends’ death or the terrifying experience with the unspeakable creature. But also from the awful brutality he just witness from the dark clad stranger. Even the beast itself showed less savagery!

Suddenly the stranger turned around, his bloody gaze matching the great stains on his coat. Cold sweat clung to every inch of Maru’s body the longer he met that terrifying stare, bubbling panic building in his stomach once more before pausing as something hit the floor in front of him. Blinking he looked down and saw that it was a bundle of clean bandages. Confused, but not wanting to offend his savior, he moved to grab them only to halt as the stranger turned and headed into the darkness.

“W-Wait!” called Maru, finally able to find the courage to draw breath. “W-Who are you?!” There were a multitude of questions he wanted to ask, but that was the only one that managed to escape his dry throat.

The stranger stopped in his tracks for a moment, his back facing Maru. Silence reigned for what seemed like an eternity with only the occasional flicker from the lamppost intruding on the moment. Finally the man spoke, “A hunter…” That was all he said. Nothing more, nothing less. And like the shadows, he crept back into the dark, leaving behind the carnage in his wake and a very confused and traumatized sole survivor.

“Come on, Nikaido! Can’t we just use all this stuff to make a ton of gyoza?” asked the tall, muscular man with the head of a lizard by the name of Kaiman. Though none could see it due to the gasmask covering his face, he was already salivating at the thought of devouring his favorite meal.

“Like I said, Kaiman, only a bit of it will go into gyoza this time,” answered a muscular woman with blonde hair and sky-blue eyes easily carrying three heavy boxes filled with ingredients. “I do have to make other dishes for the rest of my _paying_ customers, you know. The ‘Hungry Bug’ isn’t called the ‘Hungry Gyoza’ after all!”

“It should be…”

Nikaido couldn’t help smiling at her friend’s favorite obsession. Her cooking had earned her more than once the appreciation and praise of many a customer, but with Kaiman, he practically lived off her gyoza. Even at the cost of her own expense, though truth be told, she didn’t mind too much. “Tell you what, if you help carry my stuff the rest of the way back to the shop, I’ll set you up with a special early bird gyoza dish on the house.”

“Really?! You mean it?!”

“Oh course. Just as long as you keep your end of the deal.”

“Done!” The lizard-man immediately swiped two boxes out of his friend’s arms. “Whoo! This is going to be the easiest meal ticket ever.”

Nikaido rolled her eyes. “You do realize this is only the first third of the trip I’m making, right? The next two trips I need to get some new heavy kitchen wares and two hundred pounds of raw meat for the party I’m hosting tomorrow.”

“Then this is the third easiest meal I ever earned!” While normally carefree and lazy when it came to work, Kaiman always put his best foot forward for gyoza. “Just be sure to make my gyoza extra crispy tonight! I heard that if you—!”

“Hurry up, flathead!”

“You try hauling this guy across this bloody town after that damnable rain yesterday, bastard.”

“Quit your bitching already. The sooner we get out of this shithole with this guy completing our stash, the faster we can get paid for bringing in nice new specimens.”

Pausing at the sudden shouts, Kaiman and Nikaido turned towards a small alley opening to see three men dragging a tall black body bag around. While this could’ve been another common dirty dealing taking place in Hole, both knew that wasn’t the case when they spotted detailed and varied masks adorning their faces. Combined with the fact that they addressed the bag as a _person_ , it didn’t take a genius to figure out who they were and what they were doing.

They were the constant terror of humanity and especially that of Hole: Sorcerers.

“Kaiman…” said Nikaido, carefully putting down her box before casually cracking her neck.

“Yeah, I know,” declared Kaiman, throwing down his boxes with far less grace that they audibly squeaked the moment they touched the ground. “Heh. My luck just keeps delivering in spades today. Plus I get to work up an appetite!”

The two sauntered down the cramped alleyway cheerfully, the Sorcerers being too preoccupied carrying their _goods_ to notice. In fact the ones carrying the body bag were grumbling so loudly that it obscured the footsteps of their stalkers. It was practically taking candy from some oversized man-children at this point, though neither Kaiman nor Nikaido felt an ounce of pity for any of them. Finally, after having enough of his associates bickering, the remaining Sorcerer summoned a Door in the darkest corner of the alley.

“There,” he said, rubbing his temple over his fish-faced mask, “now would you lazy bastards finally stop being little—!” A sudden tap on his shoulder cut off whatever insult he had in mind. Turning around, he only got a glimpse razor sharp teeth before he was engulf in hot, sweaty darkness.

Both remaining Sorcerers skidded to a halt, blinking in disbelief at the sight of their friend’s head being chowed down upon by a lizard-man. “Hodo!” yelled one of them, his mask that of insect with a great big horn at the forehead. Dropping his end of the body bag, he whipped out his fingers and shot out a plume of smoke at Kaiman. He was careful not to allow any to touch Hodo, watching with satisfaction as it covered the entirety of the lizard’s sides. Yet that feeling gave way to shock when nothing happened. No pained screams, no agonizing transformation, and certainly not releasing his friend.

“What the hell…?” questioned the remaining Sorcerer. That was his first and last thought before a foot crushed his head into his neck. Blood spluttered out the destroyed seams of the man’s squished flesh, his body still standing for a second as if not realizing his death, before quickly crumbling to the floor with the body bag under him. Crimsons lines stained its dark fabric and threatened to leak inside.

“That’s one.” Nikaido flicked the remaining gore off her shoe, but it had already seeped into the blue fabric of her pants. “Bit messier than I wanted… Oh well, guess it can’t be helped.”

“Y-You bitch!” shouted the Sorcerer with the bug mask. Raising a finger at the blonde, he released his smoke in a huge blast. It shrouded most of the alley, its mere touch causing protruding warts and unseemly mounds to appear before bursting open to reveal tiny worms. The insects fell like wiggling rain the further the dark cloud went with nothing spared in its wake. To any human, this was something out of a nightmare and a testament to a Sorcerer’s superiority. The insect mask grinned at the thought the closer it got to the woman, eagerly awaiting the terror to take hold of her.

Instead of cowering, Nikaido jumped.

Leaping high onto a nearby sign, she scaled the walls easily till she was completely over the smoke. The Sorcerer’s jaw fell to the floor only for his eyes to grow incredibly wide when Nikaido flipped off a rail and sailed directly at him. Stumbling around, he tried to get away, not even bothering to use his magic, but his movements were no quicker than being stuck in hot sludge. Several bone shattering cracks popped loudly the moment Nikaido’s feet slammed into his back, completely breaking his spine into pieces.

Using the Sorcerer’s body as a skateboard, Nikaido skidded across the alley till they both stopped just short of Kaiman. “You almost done, Kaiman?” she asked casually, dusting herself before hoping off the absolute ruin that was man’s corpse.

“Pwatty Maach!” spluttered Kaiman, trails of spittle leaking out the sides of his jaw, covering the Sorcerer’s head.

Nikaido frowned at the disgusting display. “We really need to talk about your manners.”

“Sawwry!” Kaiman then yanked himself off the Sorcerer; the man’s face oozing with salvia and blood leaking out the holes the sharp teeth had punctured. “Now then… What did the man in my mouth say?”

The man blinked, disoriented and unsure what just happened, before hesitantly answering the lizard-man. “He… H-He said ‘You’re not the one’.”

“I see… Well that’s too bad for the both of us, pal.”

“W-Why?”

“Because that means you’re going make a fine addition to this alleyway.”

Kaiman only allowed the Sorcerer a moment to blink before slicing off his head. However he didn’t stop there. With practiced ease, he sliced, diced, and split apart the body as it were made of hot butter. Blood splattered everywhere, adding to the crimson river that flowed down the alley till it pooled around the black body bag. Touching off the finality of the carnage was the sorcerer’s Door fading away like smoke in a breeze. Wiping his blades on what remained of his victim’s clothes, Kaiman slipped on his mask before stepping over spewed guts to give Nikaido a high five.

“Did you leave any for me?”

“About that, Kaiman…” She gestured to the wrecked bodies around them.

“Gaaaaaaaah! Dammit, Nikaido! You know the drill by the now!”

“Well they weren’t exactly the _cooperative_ types. Besides, I don’t think low level mooks like them would be the ones that turned you into a lizard.”

“I… well… shit, you have a point…” Pouting, Kaiman began to turn to leave, but paused when he spotted the reason why the Sorcerer’s were in the alley to begin with. “Oh yeah. Those bastards were carrying a body around weren’t they?”

“With the way there talking, it sounded more like their captive is alive.”

“Hah! Sorcerer’s taking people as pets now? Please.”

“Well, if you’re so sure, then why don’t we check?”

“Fine, but if I’m right and this guy is a stiff, then you owe me a gyoza smorgasbord.”

“And if I’m right, you’re going to be washing the dishes of the banquet I’m hosting tomorrow.”

“Deal!”

Satisfied at the idea of a shoo-in bet, Kaiman quickly walked over to the body bag. Moving the stump-necked Sorcerer’s body out of the way, he quickly found the zipper and opened it hastily with Nikaido looking over his shoulder.

Inside was a very pale man that looked to be no later than in his late teens. His facial features were youthful, only added by a silver crescent moon earring in his right ear. Though that vitality was marred by a thin scar line across his nose or the crimsons stains on his cheeks from the Sorcerer’s blood that seeped through the bag. His body was rather lithe, with muscles packing every inch of him, though it wasn’t overblown as a body builder’s. Yet both Nikaido and Kaiman were surprised by the number of scars that littered his body. No two mark were alike. Some zig-zagged along his sides as if something tore into him, others were patches that cropped here and there. Interestingly, not a single one of them looked be caused by magic. Adding to the strangeness was his messy medium sized hair. It was bright silver. While the color wasn’t exactly special in Hole—some magic victims had entire rainbows popping out of their hair from time to time—but it wasn’t exactly common either. And the final nail to cap off the boy’s weirdness was a strange tattoo over his heart. It looked like an upside-down trident.

“He’s quite a looker, ain’t he?” commented Nikaido.

“Oh shut up,” grunted Kaiman. “As if you would fall for a corpse.”

“Please, I have standards. Although, he’s not dead.”

“You kidding? The guy’s white as a bone picked clean!”

“Lean closer and you can him breathing softly.”

Quirking a brow at her, Kaiman none the less followed her instruction and leaned an ear over the boy’s mouth. To his shock, he could hear the faint sigh escaping the clearly not dead youth. And with that revelation came another.

“Shit! That’s means I’m going to be stuck in the sink all day tomorrow!”

Nikaido couldn’t help the grin that spread across her lips. “That’s what you get for making needless bets~. At least it’ll be nice to have some actual help around the shop for once rather than having someone gobble down all my food.”

“H-Hey, I don’t—!”

“Mmmmm…”

Both friends looked down to see the boy shift in the bag for a moment before slowly opening his eyes. They gleamed with the color of blood. Shuffling upwards as Kaiman stood back, the youth yawned greatly before stretching out his arms over his head. As he did, he revealed one last thing about himself that both his rescuers completely overlooked.

He was naked as the day he was born.

Nikaido flushed furiously at the sight, mouth half opened before turning away, while Kaiman spluttered and gaped under his mask. Popping his neck a few times, the young man sighed pleasantly at the satisfying crack.

“Man… That was a good nap,” he said, messaging his neck a bit longer and ran a hand through his mess of silver hair before pausing, finally taking note of his rescuers. “Hmmm? Who are you?”

“T-That’s our line, buddy!” shouted Kaiman, desperately keeping his eye level from going even lower than below the youth’s waist. “No, screw that. Where the hell are your clothes?!”

“I didn’t think Sorcerers could be get this perverted if they’re stripping their victims now…” muttered Nikaido, firmly keeping her back to the dangling object of her embarrassment.

“What are you talking about…?” replied the young man before looking down at his full glory. His face went from confusion to sheer shock in record time. “What happened to my clothes?! And is this blood? What’s with these mangled bodies? What the hell happened while I was taking a nap?!!”

“You just now noticed you’re shooting the breeze?!” Kaiman couldn’t believe how slow this guy was. However Nikaido had to do a double take at the young man’s last question.

“Wait… What do you mean by ‘nap’?” she asked. “Weren’t you drugged and knocked out by the Sorcerers when they kidnapped you?”

“No, I was definitely taking a nap,” confirmed the youth, wiping the blood off his face before looking around for something to hide his glory. “I didn’t even know I was kidnapped until you mentioned it.”

That was enough for Nikaido to turn back around completely to stare incredulously alongside Kaiman. “Then… You were really sleeping throughout the entire fight…?” asked the lizard-man. The youth nodded. “Even after you were dropped onto the floor and had over 200 pounds of crushed flesh piled on top of you?!” Another nod. “ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!”

“Nope,” the youth said with finality. “It was rather pleasant nap to be honest. It’s been the best one I had since I came to this city. Best one I had a long time even… Frankly, I don’t think I mind being kidnapped by those Sorcerers—that’s what you called them right?—if they let me finish my wonderful nap.”

Both Kaiman and Nikaido were at a loss for words. This guy had to be mental. There was no way someone could be such a heavy sleeper and be _ok_ with being kidnapped. Did the Sorcerers mess up his brain after they kidnapped him? Or was he that special kind of person who was on a whole another plane of reality than normal people?

“With all that said, it appears I’m your debt for saving me. Truly, thank you both.” The man bowed deeply with a hand over his heart. Though it allowed him to unwittingly show off more naughty bits to his reddening rescuers.

“I… Look, it’s no sweat off our noses, but could please put on some clothes?” asked Nikaido, averting her eyes before she died from embarrassment.

The youth blinked before a rosy blush filled his cheeks, matching Nikaido’s own. “Right… sorry about that. But it appears all my belongings were taken when I was sleeping. You wouldn’t happen to see anything looking like a bag filled with valuables or something on these Sorcerers?”

“Nope,” answered Kaiman before walking over to one of the corpses. “Looks like these weird bastards dumped your stuff the moment they got their hands on you. Human junk doesn’t really have much value to a Sorcerer, huh?” He then yanked off a blood smeared long coat from one of the corpses before throwing it to the young man. “Here. It ain’t much and probably stinks, but it’s better than letting everyone see your goods dangling out.”

Catching with one hand, the young man examined it for a moment. Putting it on, the coat barely managed to cover everything, but it did hide what counted. “It’ll do for now… Jeeze, just my luck. Barely a night into this place and I’m already robbed of everything I owned and nearly kidnapped. Still, I’m grateful to you, sir… um…” Blood red eyes blinked once, twice, and then thrice. “I’m sorry, but can I ask for your names? It’ll rude of me not to properly thank my rescuers.”

“Oh right. I’m Kaiman.”

“And I’m Nikaido,” introduced the blonde, her blush gone from her face as she finally took in the young man without shame.

“Kaiman and Nikaido…” repeated the youth before allowing a sincere smile to cross his lips. “Those are nice names. But where are my manners, my name is Lukas. Lukas Oliver Axel. It’s a pleasure to finally introduce myself to my heroes.”

“Heroes, huh?” Kaiman puffed up at that. “Heh. It’s nice to actually get some praise for doing a rough job like this. Wouldn’t you say, Nikaido?”

Nikaido gave her friend a smile before turning back Lukas. “Though I don’t think I heard I a name like yours before, Lukas. You said you were from out of Hole, correct?”

“Yes,” answered the silver haired youth with a nod. “I came to this place, Hole, to find some work… but it’s becoming clear that perhaps that my expectations were a tad… _optimistic_.”

“Nah, that’s just the welcome wagon from the Sorcerer world,” said Kaiman. “You haven’t met the sneak thieves, loan sharks, conmen, drug dealers, and all other lowlifes Hole has to offer.”

Lukas gaped at the man. “Is it really that bad here?”

“Don’t tell me you came here not knowing what to expect? I mean, doesn’t your home town have the same vices and undesirables like the rest of this shit hole called civilization?”

“…In a matter of speaking.” Running a hand through his silver locks, brushing them away from his eyes, Lukas let out a sigh. “I… I honestly didn’t know what I was expecting when I came here. I hoped that I could at least find some work and experience all kinds of new things… Not get robbed and—” He was cut off suddenly by a vicious rumbling that erupted from his stomach. “And left starving, homeless, and without a penny to my name.” He blushed furiously at the admission, a sheepish smile dancing on his lips as he patted his stomach.

Nikaido stared at him for a moment, sympathy shining in her eyes before reaching out a hand. “If you want, you can come over to my place for a bite to eat? It’ll be on the house.”

Lukas immediately looked up at her, a brow cocked as if he couldn’t believe his ears. “You’re really offering me a meal? Just like that?”

“Just like that. It’ll be shame to leave you all by your lonesome after all the trouble we took to save you. Besides, consider this a true welcome to Hole.”

“But I don’t have any money! Are you absolutely sure you’re ok with this?

“Trust me, pal,” said Kaiman, “as someone who’s yet to pay the over hundred meals of deliciously juicy gyoza she makes, she’s not joking.” An elbow to his gut forced him to let out a rancorous cough. “The hell was that for, Nikaido?!”

“Don’t boast something like that like a dine-and-dasher.” She then gave him a rather intense grin. “Besides, I plan to collect that in full tomorrow, remember? Piles of dishes, Kaiman~.”

The lizard-man immediately deflated at thought of the mountainous amount of work that was heading his way. “Oh… Right… forgot about that…”

Shaking her head, Nikaido turned back to Lukas with a warm smile. “As for you, don’t worry about it. After all, I said it was on the house so you can eat till your stomach bursts. Besides, that worthless coat won’t last for your entire stay in Hole. Once we’re done filling you up, we’ll get you some new clothes to wear.”

Lukas stood there, quiet and awed by such kind generosity. He then bowed profusely, startling both Kaiman and Nikaido as he sunk low till his head brushed the blood stained ground.

“Thank you for taking care of me!”

_Click! Clack! Splat!_

Scarfing down the last of his curry till there wasn’t a speck left on his plate, Lukas washed it down with a tall frothing glass of beer. He chugged before slamming it on his table, clinking loudly next to the other glass and plates he cleaned out earlier then moved onto the next dish. In little more than an hour, the young man had gone through two pints of beer and several delicious dishes that would’ve satisfied a banquet. Not wasting a single scrap, picking clean even bone with his knives, forks, and teeth till he had consumed everything he could get his hands on. Any other man would’ve passed out or develop a severe stomach ache from so much food being shoved down their stomach. Yet Lukas showed no signs of stopping!

_Click! Clack! Splat!_

Nikaido couldn’t believe what she was witnessing. She had seen people gorged themselves on food before, but Lukas’ appetite was on a whole other level of hunger. Even Kaiman never got this bad with his love of gyoza! In a way it was impressive to say the least, coupled with wonderment over where the hell all that food was going in that lean body, but Nikaido was beginning to worry. With the pace Lukas was setting, her stores were going to be thoroughly cleaned out at this rate. Even with the supplies she brought in today! However she couldn’t really say no to the young man. She did say he could eat till his stomached burst, but this was ridiculous. Though the way he eyed each new dish with childlike excitement was flattering in a weird fashion.

“Jeeze… how long has it been since you had a meal?” she questioned, before handing him a fresh plate of steamy gyoza. “You’re eating would put a pack of starving wolves to shame.”

“A very long while!” answered Lukas between bites and sips. “Also I can’t help it. Before coming to Hole, I don’t think I had meals this good… Gods, since forever! You’re truly an amazing cook, Nikaido. The best I’ve ever known!”

Smiling at the compliment, Nikaido gave him another pint. It wasn’t enough to stop her from eyeing the growing mountain of dirty dishes on the table, but such praise deserved a little something in return.

“Yo! I’m back!” Walking in with a plastic bag in hand, Kaiman waved at Nikaido. “And I brought the—Holy shit! Did he go through all that?!” His eyes threatened to burst out of his mask the longer he stared at the impressive stack on the table.

“Afraid so,” answered Nikaido, “and he doesn’t look like he’s stopping any time soon. He might have you beat when it comes to appetite, Kaiman.”

“Wait… Is that my gyoza?!” Rushing over to the table, he threw down his bag in the open seat before stabbing an accusing finger at Lukas. “What’s the big idea eating my precious reward, huh?! You don’t mess with a man’s gyoza!!”

“Calm down, Kaiman. I’ll make you a great heaping platter once—”

“Here you go.”

Both Kaiman and Nikaido blinked as Lukas held up the gyoza plate. “Sorry, I didn’t realize they were yours. They smelled so good I couldn’t resist a bite. But if they’re yours, they’re yours. I’ll settle for this superb ramen!”

“Uh, thanks…” Taking the gyoza, Kaiman sat down in the open seat across Lukas before starting to take off his mask.

As the lizard-man settled himself, Lukas immediately resumed slurping down the hot noodles. With the way he was inhaling them, he soon drank the spicy broth till not a drop remained before moving onto some crunchy tempura. After taking one bite, however, he found himself pausing. Not because he finally found something that offended his taste buds—it was rather tasty and popped in his mouth! Rather it was the sight of Kaiman’s reptilian face that made him forget the half uneaten tempura sticking out of his mouth.

Spitting out the crunchy morsel, he stared wide eyed just as Kaiman casually grabbed some chopsticks. “What happened to your head?!”

“Hmm? Oh right. Forgot you haven’t seen my face yet. Long story short, some Sorcerer turned my head into this _beautiful_ mug.” Splitting his chopsticks in half with an angry snap, he started to dig into his gyoza heartedly. “When I find that smoke happy son of a bitch, I’m going to make them turn me back to normal before gutting ‘em. Maybe then I’ll finally figure out what exactly I look like.”

Lukas stared intensely at the lizard-man for what seem like an age. “…I can’t tell.”

Kaiman paused, gyoza half stuff way in his toothy maw. “What? Can’t tell what?”

The youth blinked, as if not realizing what he just said before a low flush spread across his cheeks. “S-Sorry. I meant I can’t tell what you mean. It sounds like you don’t remember what looked before you turned.”

“That’s because I don’t.”

“Kaiman has amnesia,” explained Nikaido before handing her friend a beer. “We think that whatever magic was used on him either had a nasty side effect on his memories or the shock of the transformation was too much for his mind to handle.”

“I see…” Lukas said slowly, though Nikaido noted that he couldn’t take his eyes off the reptilian head.

Seconds turned into a full on minute of intense staring from the silver haired youth. It wasn’t an uncommon thing for Kaiman. He, like most humans that have been made magic victims, had their fair share of being someone’s source of fascination for a few seconds. But the way Lukas’ blood red eyes bore into him, examining every line, crack, and blemish so completely was a bit unnerving.

And with the way a muscle twitched visibly under the scales of his brow, Kaiman was far from amused.

“Will you quit staring at me like that?!” he demanded, dropping his gyoza for a moment to shove a finger at the boy’s nose. “How the hell am I supposed to enjoy my delicious gyoza with you eyeing me?!”

Blinking, Lukas pulled back and his flush returned redder than before. “Sorry… That was very rude of me.”

Kaiman grumbled, but accepted the apology none the less. It allowed him to get back to eating his favorite food after all. Both boys continued to eat, with Nikaido bringing in a few more plates until finally Lukas had enough. Downing the last of his drink, he stretched out his body before patting his stomach contently. Sitting neatly next to him was a total pile of eighteen dishes, and five tall glasses.

“Damn… he really went to town, huh?” muttered Kaiman as he sipped some of his beer.

“Yeah,” agreed Nikaido. “I’m amazed he didn’t give me a higher dish count with the rate he was going. Though I should be glad for that. Less work for me to do.” She then glanced to Kaiman, a special gleam in her eye. “Or rather, less work for _you_ to do, Kaiman.”

“Oh come on, Nikaido! That’s for tomorrow!”

“That won’t be necessary, Nikaido.” Both friends turned to give Lukas curious looks as he wiped some crumbs from his lips with his dirty coat sleeve. “I made this mess, so it’s only fair that I clean it up. And with interest.”

“Interest?” repeated Nikaido.

The boy nodded before scooping up his half of his dishes and mugs. “You treated me, a complete stranger, so well that it would be shameful of me not to give a helping hand in turn.”

“That’s ok, Lukas. You don’t need to—”

“I insist! I always pay back my debts and uphold my promises! After all, it’s only fair that I help out some way, especially after I ate so much of your food.”

“I say let him, Nikaido,” said Kaiman. “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth when it comes to free help. Beats paying them to boot.”

“You’re just saying that so you don’t have deal with this mess.” Indignant garbles bubbled out the lizard-man’s mouth, but Nikaido ignored him. Scratching her head, she turned back to Lukas, sky-blue eyes meeting blood red. She never met someone so eager and sincere to help out before that she frankly didn’t know what to say. That is until an idea suddenly popped to life to solve the dilemma. “Ok. You can help out, Lukas. But on a few conditions.”

“Conditions?” repeated Lukas.

“Yep. You see, it would be great to finally have a helping hand around the Hungry Bug. Especially when it gets so busy or when certain customers give me a bit of trouble when it comes to paying up.” She glanced sidelong at Kaiman who whistled innocently, desperately trying to avoid her piercing gaze. “But it doesn’t sit right with me to take advantage of someone who’s basically homeless. So if you’re going to be working for me, you’re going to be paid. And since you don’t have a home, you can stay here with me. I have a spare room upstairs that’s vacant at the moment.”

“You really mean it?” gaped Lukas, his jaw hit the floor alongside Kaiman’s.

“H-Hey! Why does he have to stay here?!” demanded the lizard-man. “For that matter, why didn’t you offer me the same deal when I first woke up with this head?!”

“Because Dr. Vaux already offered you a job at his place and I didn’t have the space for another person until last month.”

“Oh… right. Forgot about that.” He scrubbed a hand through the needles on the back of his head, grumbling to himself all the while. “If I had known you’d make the same offer, I probably would’ve taken it… I could’ve eaten gyoza all day with a dream job like that…”

“And I would’ve ran out of ingredients by the end of the week.” Shaking her head, she turned back to Lukas. “So? What do you say? Sounds like a pretty good deal if you ask me.”

“It is! I’d be an idiot if I turned away an offer like this! Thank you so much, Nikaido! Or should I call you _boss_?”

“Nikaido’s fine. ‘Boss’ sounds weird coming from my first ever employee.”

“Heh, fair enough.” Lukas cleared his throat before bowing respectfully. “Thank you for taking care of me. I don’t have much experience with the restaurant business, but I promise to give it my all!”

“Glad to hear it, but stop being so formal. It’s embarrassing.”

“Sorry. Force of habit from my childhood.” He then hefted up his dirty dishes. “Now, where do you want these?”

“Over behind the counter is the sink, but you can do that later. Right now, let’s get you out of that coat. It’s starting to smell.” Nikaido then nodded to Kaiman who got up from his seat with his bag.

“It was pretty last minute, but I tried to get you something that was your size,” he said before pulling out various pieces of clothes and handed them to Lukas. “Didn’t know what you liked so I bought a bunch of different pairs. It’s cheap stuff, but you can mix and match them if you want.”

“The bathroom is in the back, you can use it to go get changed.”

Putting down the mugs and plates, Lukas immediately did as he was told. Minutes passed by with Kaiman and Nikaido patiently waiting for his return, though the latter started to clean a few tables in the meantime. She did have a business to run after all. Finally the door to the bathroom opened and Lukas stepped out.

His choice of clothing were rather typical of Hole’s current fashion trend. Covering his chest was a sleeveless black shirt with an emblem of devil riding over a red moon on a pitchfork. Along his arms he wore several white bands with only one having a watch embedded in its leather. Dark blue pants covered his legs, though there was a small tear along the right knee, and were held up by a tool belt with lots of pockets, while his boots were made out of tough black leather. Lastly he wore a choker with a pin in the middle that read “Hole”.

“I have to admit…” he said, looking down at his clothes to examine them, “I never wore any clothes like these before… It feels rather strange.”

“Then why’d you pick ‘em?” questioned Kaiman.

“I didn’t say they were bad, just strange… They’re so different from the clothes I’m used to.”

“Well I think they suit you just fine,” complimented Nikaido. “The moon shirt goes great with your earring.”

“T-Thanks…” The boy flushed at the compliment before pausing as dirty dishes suddenly filled his hands.

“Now let’s get to work. The evening rush is about to begin, so make sure everything is sparkling clean!”

“Table Four needs cleaning, Lukas!” shouted Nikaido, her hands deftly cutting meat into thin slices before putting them in boiling broth. “Also the customers at Two need refills!”

“On it!” Moving eagerly, the young man quickly swiped the dirty dishes with one hand while carefully refilling the empty mugs with cold beer. No sooner did he finish pouring, calls for more alcohol brought him rushing to table to table, all the while gathering a towering stack in one hand. But no matter how big it got, not a single plate fell, let alone trembled, off Lukas’ hand.

Listening to how her customers thanked her employee gratefully, Nikaido started to think she made the right call hiring him. It had only been a week since Lukas had started working at the Hungry Bug, but he managed to quickly get the ins and outs of the restaurant business. Though admittedly he had a rather rough start a first. On more than one occasion, Nikaido had to show him to perform certain tasks before he nearly broke an expensive tool or two. Her poor blender nearly bit the dust when he tried to operate it for the first time! It wasn’t that he was slow witted, far from it in fact. Rather it seemed that it was because he never performed such a job before. Once he was shown how to do something, he repeated it almost perfectly. Within less than a day, Lukas managed to prove almost essential to keeping the Hungry Bug cleaned, well stocked up, and maintained as customers poured in and out.

It was rather freeing for Nikaido since having Lukas around meant that the lunch and dinner rush wouldn’t be such an absolute battle royale anymore. At this rate, she was thinking of teaching him how to cook; double the meals meant the double the income after all.

Other than work, Lukas also managed to settle himself into his new home. At first Nikaido was a little worried that there would be some difficulties between the two of them living together in the same building. There were a few touches of awkwardness in the first day, especially running into each other after one of them took a shower. Nikaido still turned beat red at the thought! However, it turned out not to be so bad as she thought. Her tenant proved to be very polite and helpful even off work, fixing broken walls and cleaning out roach infestations within said drywall. He even managed to clean out his room very quickly and organize what was what little storage he found in a little pile for Nikaido to put away at her leisure.

After work he would hang out with Nikaido and asked a great deal of questions, especially about the city. Not that she minded. It was rather refreshing in a weird way, like a big sister teaching a younger brother. An irony that wasn’t lost on her all things considered. Lukas’ bright eyed eagerness, however, pushed away such old pains that Nikaido found herself engrossed with teaching all he needed to know about surviving in Hole. She even thought his weird sleeping habits and gorging himself on food were a bit endearing in a childish way.

However when Lukas wasn’t learning from Nikaido or sleeping the day away, he would usually leave the Hungry Bug without a word. Sometimes these trips would last for a short while, each time he would bring home a little something, like a book or an electrical device which he eagerly showed off like a kid. But most of them usually took hours, sometimes taking nearly all night, turning up late and making a sleeping Nikaido wake up groggy. When asked where he went, he would simply say that he was _exploring_ and that he got lost. Understandable for someone not of Hole, but after the second time onwards, it was starting to get concerning. Especially when he came back home carrying a dreadful smell. She couldn’t quite place what it was, but the one time she got a whiff of it made her gag. If she had guess, Lukas must’ve ran into some of the many _welcoming_ features of Hole, such as horrible sewage, gas pockets popping up, toxic sludge, and other nasty hazards. And that didn’t count the various gangs and sorcerers that liked to lurk out at night. Thankfully he always cleaned himself up and sprayed air freshener after every trip, so it wasn’t all bad.

Still, she was going to have a talk with him about it soon, for his own safety of course. It would hurt to see such an eager and bright helper get cursed or injured due to his own ignorance. But that was for later. For now, she had a business to run and customers to serve.

By the time lunch had arrived, the Hungry Bug had earned a quite a haul from the morning’s breakfast rush. However, Nikaido surprised Lukas by closing up the shop. When asked why, she merely handed him a big bag of boxed lunches.

“It’s for Kaiman and his boss, Dr. Vaux,” she explained, locking the door to her shop before motioning him to follow. “They both work at the Hole Central Hospital Victim Ward. As the name implies, it’s a special hospital dedicated to helping victims caused by Sorcerers. And every other day I give those two lunch on the house otherwise Kaiman will go nuts on the job. Plus Vaux is a good friend so it’s only fair that I give him a share as well.”

“A magic victim ward, huh?” muttered Lukas. He sounded strangely subdued, but Nikaido chalked that up as him merely remembering how he too almost became a new addition to the hospital.

It didn’t take them long before they reached the Hospital. It wasn’t all that impressive to look at, appearing more like an oversized apartment building than a place of healing. Though with how rotted and run down Hole was, it was stood _cleaner_ and more professional than the adjacent buildings.

Heading inside, both Nikaido and Lukas climbed flights of stairs until they finally found the lizard-man in the hospital’s morgue. Standing next to him and carefully examining a fresh corpse was a short, pudgy man with strange grid like tattoos lining the middle of his face. His lab coat was stained with dried blood, but he paid it no mind while he kept on with his examination.

“Yo, Nikaido! Lukas!” greeted Kaiman. “Did you bring me my Gyoza?”

“Of course, Kaiman.” Nikaido carefully took boxed lunches from Lukas before handing one to her friend. “A dozen fresh, hot gyoza all ready to go. Just the way you liked them!”

“Whooooooooooooo! You’re the best Nikai—”

“Get back to work, you over grown reptile!” yelled the fat man, slamming a pan into the back of Kaiman’s head, bending one of his spines before it fell to the ground with a clatter.

“GAH! What the hell, Doc?!”

“You’re still on duty so stop slacking off or you can kiss your lunch goodbye!”

Kaiman flinched back in shock. “You wouldn’t dare! You don’t mess with a man’s gyoza!”

“That all depends on how fast you help me finish giving this guy an autopsy. Now go get the surgical knives and make sure they are sterile!” Grumbling loudly, Kaiman did as he was told while the fat man turned his attention to Nikaido. “It’s good to see you, Nikaido. I wish it was at a better time, but having a bite to eat is always appreciated. Especially when dealing with nasty cases like these.”

“No problem, Doc,” she said before handing him his boxed lunch. “Always a pleasure to help relieve some stress with my cooking.”

Dr. Vaux hummed before he finally noticed Lukas, who eyed both the morgue and the doctor himself. “Is this the new guy that Kaiman’s been telling me about?”

“Yep. Meet my new employee!”

The silver haired boy held out a hand. “Nice to meet you, Doctor. I’m Lukas Oliver Axel.”

“Vaux,” introduced the Doctor, grasping the hand and giving it a firm shake. “Just Vaux. You can call me Doc if you wish. I don’t really care that much for formalities. I got to say, you’re a lot more polite than a certain someone I know.”

“Hey!” Kaiman indignantly yelled as he grabbed several scalpels from a closet. “Don’t act like I’m not in the same room!”

“Try to remember that you’re on the job half the time, then we’ll talk!” Vaux let out a sigh before rubbing his temple. “Kaiman’s a good guy, but man he’s one lazy assistant. And right when I need him the most when dealing with my newest _patients_.”

Nikaido’s eyes went flat. “Another sorcerer experimenting on people again?”

“Not exactly.” He gestured for them to follow him to the table.

Upon further inspection, the corpse, a male by the looks of it, was completely in shambles with barely any part left intact. Jagged lines tore down torso, ripping up its insides till they hung out. Or at least what remained of them anyway. Nikaido could see more than few organs torn out of the body along with the ribcage completely crushed into pieces. Besides the chest, there was an arm missing and several fractures stuck out of the legs. There was even a strange mark along the neck, with flesh and muscle missing, but she couldn’t figure out what did that. The face was the only part relatively unscathed, but in truth that made it all the more tragic. The victim’s last moments of complete terror were forever engraved in his expression, allowing all to get a good idea that his end was mercilessly cruel.

“Damn Sorcerers…” grunted Kaiman, dropping medical tools on a nearby medical stand beside the table. “They really screwed this guy up…”

“Careful, you idiot! I don’t want to replace expensive equipment due to your blundering.” Sighing, Vaux turned his attention back to the corpse. “Also for your information, this wasn’t caused by sorcery.”

The lizard-man did a double take. “Say what?”

“There isn’t a single spec of smoke or magical residue on this guy. At least from what I got so far. And this wasn’t caused by transformation gone wrong. Despite how messed up he is, this guy’s organs and bones are still that of a human’s. In short, this guy was killed by something else.”

“But then… why is here?” asked Nikaido.

“That’s what I told people who brought him in. At least that was my first impression anyway. I kept it since I had some room left in the morgue, but as soon as I took a look at the damage, I noticed something odd.”

“And that is?”

“Well, while the wounds don’t look to be made by magic, they certainly weren’t caused by a human either.” Vaux then traced the jagged line down the torso with a gloved finger. “Look here. This wasn’t cause by a blade. It’s too wide and irregular for anything of the sort. Looking closer inside where the organs are I also noticed some punctures by something sharp and jagged. And then there’s the neck. That wasn’t caused by a weapon at all. It’s a bite mark.”

“A bite mark?!” Both Nikaido and Kaiman stared at Vaux in disbelief.

“Yeah… The flesh and bone was gnawed on by something with large teeth, judging by the huge puncture wounds and broken flesh around the wound. Combined with the way the limbs were literally torn off, I came to the conclusion that this guy was killed by a large animal. One that’s way too big for anything in Hole.”

Kaiman stared at mutilated body for a moment before turning to his friend. “You don’t think the Sorcerers are practicing with their pets, do ya?”

“It’s possible, but I doubt it’s that simple…” Cupping her chin, Nikaido glanced at the corpse. “From what I heard, some Sorcerers can transform themselves into monsters. If that’s the case, then they’re probably running around experimenting with their bodies and testing them on people.”

“Oh… That makes sense.” Suddenly Kaiman jolted upright. “Wait… Can those Sorcerers be the ones who turned my head into lizard?!”

“It’s possible, but…” She halted the moment her friend’s hands landed on her shoulders and shook enthusiastically.

“Then we got to find them right away! If they left Hole already then—!”

“Was this the only body, Doc?” Everyone blinked at the question, before turning to Lukas, though his gaze never left the dead man.

“No…” Vaux answered slowly, “Kaiman’s been pulling in three more bodies early this morning. But how’d you know?”

“I didn’t. Just a lucky guess… If this… _Sorcerer_ hasn’t left Hole then they must still be around still doing _experiments_ …” Finally turning his gaze away, Lukas locked eyes with the good doctor. “If you don’t mind me asking, but where did these bodies come from?”

“Yeah! Tell us where so I can knock some skulls out of those Sorcerers’ heads!” yelled Kaiman.

“You do that after work!” Rubbing a hand along his coat, Vaux glanced back at Lukas. “Along the east side of town. That’s where the bodies came from, but there have been no sightings of a Sorcerer in the area… yet.” He turned to Nikaido, concern lacing his face. “If you guys are going after them, be careful.”

“Don’t worry, Doc.” Kaiman slammed his fists together eagerly. “Nikaido and I can handle anything those stupid Sorcerers send our way!

“Well, I wouldn’t exactly put it like that, but we’ll be careful,” said Nikaido. She paused for a moment, noticing an intensity radiating from Lukas’ eyes. “Hey… You alright, Lukas?”

“…Sorry, but I’m feeling a bit ill… I guess seeing something this grisly made me feel a bit queasy. Do you need me later? I think I want to go out for a walk and see if I come down a bit.”

The blonde nodded understandingly. Not everyone was used to seeing such a mangled mockery of the flesh. “Not at all. You can take the rest of the day off if you feel like it. Just don’t wander off too much. If the Sorcerers are still around, then it’s best to play it safe.”

“Right… Thanks, Nikaido. I hope you guys stay safe as well… and I hope that this mess gets cleaned up soon.” Eyeing the corpse one last time, Lukas gave everyone a brief nod before leaving the hospital.

Shafts of light cut through the dark alleys of Hole, but with the dying sun, they too soon were engulfed by the hungering night. _Hungering_. A fitting word, Lukas thought as he walked through the darkness without pause or slowing his step. For he could tell that this night would be like so many since he came to this strange new land—filled with starving beasts who hid in the dark and lusted after fresh meat.

Gone were the clothes he got from Kaiman, instead his hunter garb adorned him once more. Helping him melt into the night; another shadow to the many that hid the foulest that Hole had to offer. Coming to this city had been a trial of adjustment—it was so different, advanced and a bit more run downed than Yharnam. Even the discovery of these “Sorcerers” had been quite a surprise, especially after his kidnapping. The magic used in this land was far different from where he came from and he was very eager to learn all that he could from these new people. Perhaps find an explanation why his _Insight_ couldn’t discern Kaiman’s true form.

But, alas, a hunter must hunt. And the prey he came for tonight, the ones he had slaughtered thus far, were only the byproduct of one of the true _Beasts_ that drew Lukas to Hole. The trouble was that he still had no clue where they were exactly coming from. All his encounters thus far had been all over the city with no definite gathering or lair in sight. It was rather annoying to say the least and with more time letting them roam free meant more victims for the slaughter.

To his surprise, that wasn’t the case. At least not entirely anyway. Finding one Scourge Beast usually meant infection followed closely by plague. Yet there wasn’t any sign of sickness amongst the populace. Of course there was the occasional natural disease or virus or even those spawned from Sorcerers practices, but there was no plague of beasts running wildly through the streets. Why was that? What could be keeping the beasts from spreading their filth and disease to the rest of humanity despite so many times in history long since passed? Furthermore why wasn’t there a panic or citywide paranoia concerning the beasts?

“Perhaps everyone thinks they are just a result of these Sorcerers…” Lukas muttered, quickly making a sharp turn into another alley. It was the only explanation he could think of, judging by Kaiman, Nikaido, and Vaux’s reaction to the poor victim in the morgue. If that was the case, he was going to make time to figure out what was the deal with these Sorcerers later. And why they came to Hole for their experimentations. Alas such questions were for another occasion, for now was the time of the hunt.

Suddenly a smell tickled his nose. It was faint, but Lukas could never forget that foul scent mixed with the iron whiff of blood. Quickening his step, he sped through the night, weaving through the maze of alleys in the east side of Hole till the scent grew stronger.

“Come on, Nikaido! I can tell we’re going to catch that bastard tonight!”

“Not with you yelling like that. We’ll probably scare them off before we see even a hair of them.”

Skidding to a halt, Lukas clung to the shadows before peering around a corner. Walking casually through the streets was none other than his employer and the lizard-man. He knew that they would be out hunting the same prey after mistaking its handy work for a Sorcerer’s, but he didn’t realize that they would be on the trail so soon. Though in all fairness, Hole was a big city and he wasn’t quite used to its cramped and varied layout yet. He’d been up and down the east side until dusk. More than likely they had started at a different point of the city while he was busy with his search. Still, Lukas had to commend them for their bravery and earnest desire to protect those preyed upon in Hole, but for this hunt, he had to make sure they didn’t encounter the beast he was after.

For that was his prey alone and he would spare them any misfortune fighting a horror born from one of their own people.

Slipping away from the two, Lukas took a small detour around Kaiman and Nikaido, silent as a shadow, before following after the scent once more. It drifted away a bit, but not far enough to hide from Lukas. Picking up the pace, his foots tapped loudly on cold stone, growing stronger along with the wretched scent. Stepping out into a small opening in the alleyway—a small square used to dump garbage and other undesirables by the looks of it—Lukas came to a halt.

He found his prey.

Crotched over a mauled body were two Scourge Beasts, blood staining their lips and bits of flesh stuck to sharp claws. The stench from them and their decaying prey was pungent and gross, a combination that would’ve overpowered any man, but Lukas was used to it. They paused in their gluttony, sniffing at the air before whirling around to face the hunter. Fangs gleamed in the dark and baleful growls echoed warningly throughout the alley. An unnerving sight for any normal person, but Lukas knew that those growls weren’t simple menacing threats. Rather they were cornered false bravado of prey facing an apex predator… and something far worse than they were.

Undeterred by such their desperation, Lukas stepped forward, his saw and pistol low at his sides. The beasts inched back with every step he took, climbing onto garbage to get a better angle to face their doom. It was a sorry sight and though Lukas pitied these creatures, despite the atrocities they committed against the world of men, he would not show them leniency. If anything, he considered it a mercy to put the souls of those turned into such creatures to rest.

Suddenly the foul odor wrapped around Lukas, more powerful than ever as if was coming from all around him. Narrowing his eyes, he spun around, the hunter saw extending with a sharp click, before ripping open the stomach of a third beast. The foul creature groaned weakly, grasping at the guts that spilled out of his innards, before collapsing onto garbage.

Not bothering to watch it die, Lukas turned and shot at the remaining two beasts. Blood sprayed the walls, but the bullet only took a chunk out of a beast’s shoulder as they scrambled out of the way. It stumbled, but its companion quickly closed the distance between it and Lukas. Scraping a claw across the ground till sparks flew, it swung upward, aiming to tear apart the hunter’s face. It almost achieved its mark before a blur swiped between man and beast. A cold echo sounded in the square the moment the vile claw hit the floor. Howling madly the Scourge Beast flayed around, the now handless wrist spewing its corrupted life fluids all over Lukas.

Lunging forward, the hunter grabbed at the maddened creature’s throat, silencing its screams with a bone-crushing snap. With a heave, Lukas threw the lifeless body at the remaining beast just as it jumped right at him. Both crashed into the floor with a splat, the last remaining wolf monster desperately shoving the body of its comrade off its person. Only for a foot to slam down, pinning corpse and creature together and forcing a pained bark to leave the beast’s mouth. The last thing it saw was the scarred steal of the pistol aimed at its head.

Grey matter and bits of skull flew with a bang, leaving only a third of the beast’s head relatively intact. Pulling back the smoking gun, Lukas turned to survey the carnage. It was a mess. Complete and absolute savagery, nothing new to Lukas, but the dumping pit around them was fitting in a way. Made it easier for him to get rid of the beast’s corpses least they ended up in the hands of those who would abuse the secret of their affliction. Before that, however, there was some other business to attend to.

Pushing one of the beast’s body’s aside, Lukas looked it over keenly, leaving not a single hair on its fur unnoticed. There wasn’t nothing left of the human that it once was, only the malformed creature remained. Grimacing, he looked over the next one. Still nothing useful that would tell him where the beasts were coming from. Turning around he examined the last body with care. At first he thought it was going to be another dead end, but a gleam along the beast’s waist caught his eye.

Turning the corpse over, he found a chained belt with a steel buckle. The metal was dented in, stained with blood, and had multiple scratches, as if the beast tried to tear it off, but what caught the hunter’s attention was the broken logo plastered on the front. “SMC” it read. Normally Lukas would’ve considered this merely a personalize fashion statement, but underneath the letters was an engraving that said, “Part of the Hole Workers Union”.

“Finally…” he muttered. “A lead…” Unhooking the buckle from the belt, Lukas carefully put it in his coat pocket. He then took out his Firesprayer and readied to burn away the corpses when a familiar voice stayed his hand for a moment.

“Over here, Nikaido!” Kaiman’s voice echoed close by. “I heard gunshots down this way!”

“Wait up, Kaiman!” yelled Nikaido. “Don’t be reckless!”

Lukas lifted his head sharply to where the voices came from. He didn’t expect the both of them to be hot on his heels so quickly, but then again, he did make a quite a racket with his gun. Still there was no time for lamenting his lack of stealth. With flaming bursts from the Firesprayer, Lukas lit the bodies ablaze, careful not to let them spread any further passed the alley. Satisfied with charring corpses, Lukas headed down the opposite opening of the square and faded into the night…

“What the hell…” uttered Kaiman, drinking in the sight of the blaze that engulfed the square. “Did a Sorcerer do this?!”

“I don’t know…” confessed Nikaido, unable to take her eyes from the dancing flames, but mostly what was in them. She could easily make out the disfigured and blackening bones of something completely _inhuman_. But as to what, she could not say. The only thing she could clearly identify was the fanged jaw on one of the burning skulls. It was disturbing and the smell, pungent and burning with smoke, almost made her choke. Just what happened here?!

Suddenly a faint movement caught her eye. Peering passed the blaze, Nikaido saw something walking into the opposing alleyway. All she could make out was a long coat fluttering in the breeze before the figure faded into the dark. Was this the one who caused the fire? Were they a Sorcerer who messed with the bodies? So many questions ran through her head. Whatever the case, Nikaido had a feeling that this wouldn’t be the last time they would encounter that stranger. She and Kaiman would make damn sure of that…


	2. Insightful Misunderstandings

Chapter 2: Insightful Misunderstandings

The egg yolk sizzled furiously in the pan, threatening to blacken any moment before being lazily turned over. However the dark spots forming at the edges told the damage was already done. Not that Nikaido noticed. Normally such a blemish, no matter how small, in her cooking would’ve annoyed her pride as a chef. But unpleasant thoughts kept her mind distracted from the task at hand. Namely the unforgettable images of the burnt animal corpses she and Kaiman found days ago.

After the fire had died down with the help from local firefighters, the disfigured and beast-like bones were blackened to the marrow. That was all that remained; flesh and guts were not but ash. What made it worse was a sickening smell of burning rot that clogged the square long after the smoke had died away. By the time she and Kaiman managed to gather what little remained in that alley to Dr. Vaux’s hospital, the pungent odor clung to their clothes to the point where it took two rounds of the washer till they were cleansed completely.

It was annoying to say the least, but Nikaido’s mood soured furthered when she learned it was all for naught. Dr. Vaux’s autopsy couldn’t pick up a single thing from the corpses since they were too charred up. Sure there was the obvious beast-like anatomy that threw the good doctor through a loop, but that was it. There was nothing else that indicated who or what these creatures were. Even if there was a speck of magical smoke on them, the fire destroyed everything that could indicate if these creatures were human or Sorcerer.

Kaiman threw a frustrated storm over the development, one Nikaido sympathized with, until a thought occurred to her. Whoever she saw in that dark alley that fateful night didn’t want anyone find out anything useful. Seeing those hulking animal bones left no doubt in Nikaido’s mind that this was the work of a sorcerer, but the method to hide that fact brought so many questions. Sorcerers never tried to hide their handy-work in the past. Even now they took gleeful pride in turning some poor soul into a walking circus for their rest of their life. So why would any one of them destroy their experiments now? Was this a large scale operation?

Similar questions floated around for the last few days as she and Kaiman looked up and down Hole. Unfortunately her theories grew more with other charred corpses they found. At first she thought they weren’t related—Hole did have plenty of arsons and Sorcerer burnings by its citizenry that went years back—but every now and then they would find a bone or skull that couldn’t possibly be human.

There were only a few found incidents so far, but it was disturbing that there was that many to begin with. Normally she and Kaiman would’ve found a trace of the Sorcerer by now! At that point this whole affair went beyond infuriating, not helped by the fact that every time they ran into one of the charred aftermaths, Nikaido had to deal with that devil-cursed burnt odor. In fact, she could still smell it even now!

“Hey! Watch what you’re doing, Nikaido!”

Blinking at Kaiman’s panicked shout, Nikaido looked down to see that her eggs were a _little_ too well done; the only color that wasn’t charred black was a tiny dot where the golden center should be. Quickly putting a lid over the ruined meal, she turned off the stove for a moment least something else set ablaze.

“Sorry, Kaiman,” she said before wiping her hands on her apron. “Looks like that egg supreme lunch I promised is going to take a while longer. Want some eggrolls in the mean time?”

If there was one thing that could lift up her friend’s mood, it was the promise of more food, especially gyoza. “Sure, I’ll take half a dozen!” Suddenly he went quiet for a moment, a thoughtful raise of his brow let Nikaido there was working the muscles in his brain. “…You know, I think this is the first time I’ve seen you mess up a meal, Nikaido. That ain’t like you... What’s up? You been thinking about those fried corpses we’ve been bringin’ in?”

Nikaido nodded absently as her hands already deftly started to prepare a replacement dish for her friend. “I just can’t get it out of my head… Nothing about them make any sense.”

“I hear you,” he said before cracking up his second beer can. “Poor bastards… First being turned into whatever-the-hell abomination that the devil would say is too much then burnt to ash… The Sorcerer who did this is quite the sick fuck.”

“Yeah… They are unforgivable.”

“Damn right! When I get my hands on them I’ll—”

A familiar chime at the door cut off Kaiman’s ranting to allow Dr. Vaux to drudge into the Hungry Bug. His step was heavy and there were dark bags under his eyes. Taking a seat opposite of his lizard assistant, he pulled out a cigarette before lighting it casually.

“Hey, Doc,” greeted Nikaido, taking a moment away from the kitchen to hand him a can of his favorite beer. “What’s got you down?”

“It’s the damn corpses you two keep bringing in,” he answered tiredly, immediately catching both his friends’ attention.

“And?” demanded Kaiman, failing to keep his impatience down as Vaux took a long drag. “Don’t keep us in suspense, Doc! What did ‘cha find? Any leads on the jack-hole with the sick burning fetish?”

“Nope. Didn’t find a god damn thing. Didn’t find anything the first time you ask me, and sure as hell not after the twentieth!”

“Gah! You absolutely useless Quack!”

“Hey! Don’t talk down to your boss like that, scales for brains! Unless you want me to dock your pay for this month!” Kaiman’s maw immediately clamped shut at the threat. “For your information, I tried everything I know to find anything on those corpses. Even tried some crappy DNA and bone sampling test today, but came up with squat. It’s got to the point where I sent a sample to my mentor. Hopefully he’ll have better luck with that crap… God damn arsonists…”

“Cheer up, Doc,” said Nikaido, placing a plate of eggrolls at her friends’ table. “We’ll catch the Sorcerer soon enough and you’ll get more samples soon enough.”

“I hope so…” Vaux blinked for a moment, looking around as if noticing something amiss for the first time. “Hey, where’s your new busboy?”

“Lukas? He’s out getting groceries.” Nikaido tilted her head for a moment before turning to a nearby clock. “He’s a running a bit though… I hope he hasn’t run into any trouble.”

“Eh, I’m sure he’s fine,” garbled Kaiman as he stuffed down an eggroll ravenously. “The guy’s been in Hole for—what?—a week and a half now? He’s got to know where to go and who not to piss off at the store.”

“Yeah, but I’m more concerned about him running into the Sorcerer who’s been burning bodies.”

That immediately halted Kaiman’s feasting, turning a wide eye to the muscular blonde. “…Shiiiiiiiit! Can’t believe I didn’t think about that! Fine! I’ll go look for him right now.” Stuffing two more eggrolls into his mouth, he got up from his seat, putting his mask back on midstride, and headed to the door.

Just as he reached for the doorknob, it swung open suddenly, causing the lizard-man to flinch back. It was Lukas with ruffled paper bags in both arms. Leaning against the doorway, he let out a heavy sigh before dragging himself into the establishment. Yet by his third step, Nikaido cringed back as an overwhelming stench followed after her employee.

“God, what the hell is that smell!?” Vaux exclaimed before slamming both hands over his nose. “You smell like an open sewage drain!”

“Sucks that you don’t have a mask like mine,” laughed Kaiman, only to gag as Vaux swiped his mask off his face. “Gah! What the hell Doc—Fuck! It’s worse than stepping in dog shit!”

“Again, Lukas?!” Nikaido exclaimed as lifted her shirt over her nose.

“Sorry, but I didn’t mean to come home like this again!” Putting down the grocery bags, Lukas ruffled behind the counter for some air freshener. “On my way back, I got jumped by some jerks with knives.”

Nikaido blinked, momentary forgetting about the awful smell to eye her employee with concern. “Back up, you got mugged? Are you alright?”

“Yeah... I made a run for it, taking a detour through the city and manage to lose them in a street being fixed. Unfortunately, the reason why it’s under construction is because a sewage pipe had burst and I… well… let’s just say there is a reason why I lost those thieves...”

“Well that explains the smell…” said Vaux.

Lukas paused in his riffling to blush a rosy red. “I tried to avoid it! But looks like I stuck around too long and the smell clung to my clothes. After that I wandered around for the last hour trying to get back here without running into those jerks… Sorry…”

Nikaido let out a sigh. “It’s ok, Lukas. These things happen, you don’t have to apologize because some assholes wanted a quick buck. But we’re going to have a talk about you going out like this later. With the way you keep running into trouble, I don’t want you go out alone until we get you completely accustomed to Hole’s particularities. Especially avoiding all the lowlifes.”

“Ok…”

“Good, now spray yourself down with some deodorant. I got a fresh bottle in the bathroom.”

“Will do!”

Closing the drawers in the kitchen, Lukas walked passed his boss, who unfortunately got another powerful whiff of the foulness that clung to him. It was eye watering and Nikaido had to use all her will power not to gag in front of everyone. However her brain suddenly registered something odd. The smell was rancid, yes, but there was something familiar about it. Not in the same way that she was unfortunately growing accustomed to the aftermath of Lukas’ outings, but rather it felt recent. Like she was just thinking about it, but forgotten in a moment’s distraction. It tickled her mind to put a name on what it was, but for the life of her she couldn’t remember. It was more than simply just sewage, but as the smell grew stronger, Nikaido concluded it was best she didn’t want to know.

A few minutes later, Lukas stepped out of the bathroom sparkling clean and now carrying the air of a minty freshness. “Ah, that feels better. Got to say, modern technology is truly convenient with dealing with the most awful of circumstances.”

“Well, duh,” said Kaiman, taking off his gasmask to resume eating his eggrolls just as Nikaido presented him and Vaux two big plates of eggs and bacon. “As crappy as it is, modern junk sure has it uses to make life slightly less shitty in Hole… at least until the Sorcerers come to screw up everything.”

“Right…” Scratching the back of his neck, Lukas headed over to Nikaido. “Do you need me for anything right now, Nikaido?”

“Nah,” she said before handing him a beer, “I think we’re good. Already served up Kaiman’s and Doc’s special and shelved the groceries, so you can take a break.”

Lukas gave her a nod before sitting by Kaiman and Vaux. Settling himself in, he took a few sips from his beer before pulling out something from his pocket. Glancing over the counter, Nikaido could see it was an emblem or a buckle of some kind with the letters “SMC” engraved in it.

“Hey, where’d you get that?” Kaiman asked.

“Hmm? Oh, uh, found it while I was on the run from the thieves. Looked like someone lost it, so I asked around to see if someone recognized it.” He suddenly grimaced sourly. “Everybody I talked to either didn’t have a clue or said it looked vaguely looked familiar before trying to peddle me something.”

“Hmph. Should’ve just threw it in the trash. Probably random crap some asshole littered without a care.”

“…You’re probably right…”

“Here, let me see that,” asked Vaux. Grabbing ahold of the buckle, he stared intently at it for a moment before a look of recognition took hold. “Ah, it’s from the old Steel Mill Company.”

For a moment Lukas blankly stared at the middle aged doctor, shock slowly filling the pits of his blood red eyes, until he suddenly slammed his hands on the table and stood up, startling his friends. “You know who this belongs to?!”

“E-Eh? I do, but—”

“Are they still in business? Where can I find them?!”

Excitement grew in Lukas’ gaze, growing intense and forcing the Doctor lean back in his seat. “Take it is easy, buddy! A belt buckle ain’t worth losing your mind over. Especially with the owners being pretty much defunct.”

Lukas blinked at that. “What do you mean?”

“Like I was trying to say, the old Steel Mill Company is all but in name shut down for the last fifteen years. Shame really since it was one of the more reliable steel manufacturers in Hole, but over time it slowly declined. Bleeding money from scam projects, losing half its workers along with a factory in a fire, and, of course, being subjected to many Sorcerer attacks. Got so bad that everyone but a few abandoned SMC—ironically forming a new company not a month later, but still having the same problems as its predecessor. The hardcore loyalists that remained became a skeleton crew to the only working SMC factory left in the city. Not really making any long time investments, but they make a few bucks every now and then with odd jobs or commissions from eccentrics.”

“I’m surprised I haven’t heard about them yet…” commented Lukas

“I’d be surprised if you did. They mostly keep to themselves at the factory in the northern edge of Hole, only coming out for supply runs or delivering commissions. Combined that with the fact their successors have pretty much established themselves as the primary source of steel goods in Hole, they’re pretty much living ghosts of their former glory.”

“I see…”

Sinking back into his seat, the white haired youth stared at the buckle that was handed back to him. Though he seemed to calm down, there was no mistaking the fire in his eyes burning eagerly. Strange didn’t even begin to describe the last minute of her employee’s behavior and Nikaido wasn’t certain what to make of it. This outburst went beyond his strange habits, leaving her with a growing list of questions.

“Welp, now you know the mystery of the useless piece of metal,” Kaiman said sarcastically. “Probably not worth a single penny even if you—”

“Nikaido… do you mind if I take some time off today to return this to the SMC?”

“Eh?” All three friends said at once, though Nikaido was the one who recovered her surprise the quickest. “Why? From what Doc just said, I don’t think you’ll get a reward or anything valuable.”

“I know, but… it doesn’t sit right with me to simply _leave_ this alone. Probably going to eat at my mind all day until I return it, so can I please take the rest of the day off? I promise to work extra hard tomorrow!”

Nikaido could hear the sincerity in Lukas voice, but the eagerness in his eyes made it feel… off. The questions she had quickly converted to suspicions, ones she vehemently hoped that she was wrong. Yet no matter how much her brain told her that something was amiss, she couldn’t find a reason to deny Lukas’ request.

Suppressing her wariness, Nikaido sucked in a breath to calm her paranoid mind. “Sure, Lukas… But this time be back before ten o’clock. No more running around pass midnight, understood?”

“Yes, Ma’am… and thank you, Nikaido.” Giving his boss respectful nod, Lukas got of his seat and rushed out of the Hungry Bug.

“Jeeze… Those poor beggars aren’t going to run off any time soon from their rust bucket of a home, so what’s got him all worked up?” Vaux asked before letting out a long drag from his cigarette.

“Right? I know Lukas is weird, but guy’s acting like they’ll catch fire or something without a belt buckle,” said Kaiman, downing the last of his beer before slamming it on the table.

As the resounding clink echoed like a thunderclap, Nikaido felt a surge of recognition rush through her brain. “Fire!” she yelled impulsively.

“What?” Both men blinked blandly.

“Fire, or rather sickly smoke, is the other smell that Lukas brought in.”

“Ok…?” Kaiman said with scratch at his scaly lips. “So what’s that got to do with anything?”

“I’ve been trying to figure out why Lukas’ horrid stench smelled so familiar for the past ten minutes. Couldn’t remember where I smelled it until you brought up fire, Kaiman…” Suddenly her eyes slowly widen with dread. “We came across it before… with the burnt bodies we found.”

“WHAT?!” Kaiman instantly jumped up in his seat, but a knee jolted higher than he wanted and slammed at the bottom of the table, goading a painful yelp through sharpen teeth.

The good doctor’s reaction was far milder, but none the less intense. “Hold on, Nikaido… What is it you’re trying to say? I mean, the kid did stink, but… you saying he’s the Sorcerer you’ve been after?”

“Yeah—Owwww—What he said!” Kaiman rubbed his knee gingerly, but his eyes held his best friend’s.

Nikaido didn’t answer right away. Or rather, she didn’t want to. While their time had only barely lasted two weeks, Lukas proved to be a dependable and kind person, if awkward and weird at times. She didn’t want to doubt her new employee, but his demeanor just now raised all kind of warnings that she couldn’t ignore. Thinking back, his nighttime habits were around the time of the grisly murders and she couldn’t deny the connection to the awful and very familiar burning smell he brought in. Then there was the fact that he was with her when Vaux revealed the first reported location of the Sorcerer’s beasts days ago… just when she and Kaiman came across the burnings.

Seeing the truth for what it was, she couldn’t deny it any longer. “I’m such an idiot… I think Lukas might be our Sorcerer.”

Kaiman stared at Nikaido for a moment, his reptilian eyes gleaming brightly with a hunger he reserved for his hatred of Sorcerers. “I see… Guess we should go have a chat with our Sorcerer busboy, huh?”

It was a bitter pill to swallow, even harder to say, but anger and irritation quickly won over awkwardness. Nikaido couldn’t believe she didn’t see the signs that Lukas was more than he let on! She let him live her with for god’s sake! Probably got himself caught to escape suspicion too! Though a part of her brain pointed out that she too was deceiving everyone with the fact that _she_ wasn’t human either. But in turn she reminded herself that unforgivable murders had happened all the while the chief suspect was under her roof!

“Yes,” she said finally with steely resolve, “let’s show this Sorcerer what he gets for messing with us.”

The sun’s rays turned a foreboding hue as dusk quickly settled upon Hole. Night was fast approaching and its descent only sped Lukas through the city’s labyrinth design. To say that he was elated to finally have a true destination to his hunt would be an understatement. Perhaps a bit too excited since he almost exposed himself in front of his employer, but he couldn’t help himself. His prey had proven to be quite cautious as opposed to the fiends from the bloody hunts in Yharnam. So when he finally had a lead finally dropped into his lap, his emotions got a bit out of hand.

From Vaux’s description of the SMC factory, it was the perfect hiding place for beasts. But not for his _true_ prey. He was under no delusions that his slippery quarry would be hiding from him, but experience had taught him that an abandoned factory, no matter how desolate, would serve as a lair for one of the masterminds behind these new beasts. However he had a feeling that the SMC would at least point him in the right direction.

With an eager step, Lukas made his way north of Hole, keeping to the shadows of the alley until finally he reached his target. The factory was far more decrepit than Vaux let on; huge rusty holes punched into sides of the building, parts of it fallen apart, and no window was completely intact. Yet there were signs of its former glory. It was huge, standing taller than anything in the northern edge of Hole. A tall wall of iron topped by razor wire clung around the factory jealously and there were heavy machine equipment sprawled around the loading bays. The main gate, while walled and patched up with an iron plate, stood proudly at the front, but that’s where Lukas noticed something off.

There wasn’t any guard to be seen. No sentry keeping watch or a gatekeeper to man the only entrance into the factory. Furthermore there wasn’t any hint of a light within its walls, making it stand out like a shadow amongst the flickering glimmer of the neighborhood. Capping off the unease was a faint smell of blood mixing together with the heavy taste of unrefined metal in the air.

Needing no further evidence, Lukas strolled up the gate before placing a hand at a heavy plate. With a good shove, it steadily opened with a noisy creak. It wasn’t the most subtle of approaches, but Lukas figured that it would take longer trying to find another way in. Time which he couldn’t afford to lose.

Slipping through the crack he made, the young hunter’s surveyed the complex, his blood red eyes leaving not a crack unnoticed. Still no soul in sight. Clinging to the shadows, Lukas quickly made his way to a door to the main factory. Grabbing ahold of the rusty knob, he opened it slowly, peaking one eye in to make sure everything was clear before heading through. Old and unfamiliar machinery greeted him along with rusted pipes blanketed with many a spider web that snaked down to ghost across his face. Not bothering with the silken threads, Lukas carried on, his feet kicking up dust with every step he took.

He didn’t know exactly where he was heading, most of the signs and directories he encountered were molded or covered in a thick layer of rust, but the bloody scent grew stronger just around a corner. Narrowing his crimson gaze, Lukas turned into the corridor and was greeted with an expected sight. It was a body. Or rather what was left of it as only the head remained. It didn’t look to be fresh either, judging from the darkened, stale blood splattered on the walls and further down the hallway. What little remained of the face was no better, rot started to set in along with dozens of flies swarming out the gaping mouth.

Sparing the rotting head half a glance, Lukas followed the rusty red trail further into the factory, the scent of blood and rot growing heavier with every step he took. Finally it ended at a pair of heavy doors with thick scratch marks and a sign above that read “Foundation Floor”. Cocking his hunter pistol, he quietly open the doors.

A thick wave of pungent air brushed passed Lukas as he entered, but he ignored the awful stench to take everything in at once. The foundation floor was massive in scope and scale. Huge cauldrons supported by thick chains were held over sizable casting holes while some of the more complex machinery lined along the side. Thick rods of steel were stacked orderly in the back while various moldy hoses lay across a huge broken sewer grate. It would’ve been impressive any other day, as it spoke of an industrial advancement far above that of Yharnam, but it was undercut by the massive pile of corpses and body parts that piled the foundation’s center.

Not one bit of flesh was left whole, leaving muscle, bone, and sinew exposed for all to see. A heavy stench of rot fumed from the corpses that would’ve made any man gag, if they didn’t faint from shock at the amount of bodies left brutalized and half eaten. Though for Lukas, it wasn’t what the pile was made of that held his attention, but rather what they formed into. At the top of the decomposing mound, a bisected man, the skin of his face chewed off, was propped up to appear to be _praying_. A true altar of blood.

“…Bingo,” said Lukas, allowing a small satisfied smile to form underneath his mask. “Now… to clean up the left overs…”

He didn’t need to turn around to know beasts were quietly stalking into the foundation. While the pungent rot in front of him was suffocating, his nose could never forget a beast’s awful scent. Slowly turning around, he spotted eight scourge beasts, growling lowly as they descended from the shadowy ceiling of the factory. A rather small pack, but Lukas had been thinning the herd bit by bit every night.

Not one to allow them a chance to gang up on him, he lifted his pistol to fire. Tugging the trigger back, he stopped suddenly when he felt something tap his the back of his left leg. Snapping around, he had only a moment to see a ninth beast, caked in blood as it emerged from the corpse altar, lunging right at his throat. Lukas leaped to the side, but a sharpen claw grazed a shoulder, carving a jagged crimson line through his coat.

The wolfish monster let out a victorious growl at the bloodshed, but before it could finish, a quicksilver bullet bore into its throat. Barely allowing it a moment to let out a gurgle, Lukas closed the distance and lopped off its head with his hunter saw. Blood gushed out of the headless stump, splattering Lukas’ face before slumping into the corpse mound.

Ignoring the threating, if desperate, growls from the beasts around him, Lukas lifted a hand to his bleeding shoulder, trailing a finger across the torn flesh. “Hiding your scent amongst the corpses… clever…” While his praise was genuine, Lukas was kicking himself for not thinking about it first. An amateur mistake for someone who’s been the dreaded to all beastkind for so long. So annoyed, he didn’t bother with allowing his healing abilities to kick it; a penance for his own complacency.

“Now then…” He turned to the remaining beasts, some on the floor while others clung to the walls above. “Who’s next?”

In little more than a dozen or so minutes, the foundation floor became a sea of blood and mutilated bodies, some of which were added to the mound. A monument of carnage and standing atop it was Lukas. Blood stained every inch of his clothes, clinging to his person by a small layer of sweat he worked up and the sticky new redness. A few more jagged lines dug into him, but they were shallow and far from concerning.

Wiping a trickle of blood at his eyes, Lukas breathed out a heavy sigh. The beasts were annoying to say the least. Not because they were actually dangerous to him, far from it, but it was their numbers that proved to be inconvenience when they decided to simply rush him. This normally wouldn’t have been an issue, he had more than enough variety in his arsenal and the power to slaughter them with ease. But in his effort to keep up with the _subtly_ in this particular hunt, his choice of weaponry was limited. At least until he found the source of this new nightmare that is. Still he hoped that his gunshots would be misinterpreted as another gang tussle in Hole. Lukas noted that there were a surprising amount of those.

But that left him one final dilemma to his annoyance. “How the hell am I going explain this smell to Nikaido?”

“Explain to me about what… _Lukas?_ ”

The youth froze, uncertain if he was hallucinating at the familiar voice, now darkened with contempt, before turning back to the entrance.

Standing at the doorway was Nikaido and Kaiman. Both were dressed for a fight, the latter having several more knives than usual while the former simply had loose clothes that would allow her to move around freely. They were also glaring directly Lukas, eyeing both his bloody form and the mountain of dead underneath him.

“N-Nikaido! Kaiman!” Lukas exclaimed, startled and confused, his mind racing to figure why they were here. However one thing was certain, the situation went from simple to extremely awkward in less than a second. “I can explain—!”

“That you’re a Sorcerer?” The disappointment in Nikaido’s tone forced Lukas to pause. “Don’t have to… we figured it out.”

“You sure pulled the rug over us, magic boy,” hissed Kaiman, the slits of his reptilian eyes narrowing menacingly under his mask. “Gotta say… You threw us off your trail with your nice guy crap. But your stench finally gave you away. Didn’t get your quota for burnings, huh?”

“Or turning people into monsters…” Nikaido frowned, glaring at the beast’s mutilated corpses. “…I didn’t think I would find a Sorcerer so depraved. Let alone living under my own roof!” Trembling, she looked up at Lukas, her eyes burning with fury only held back by the disappointment written on her face. “Is that how you see us…? As mere beasts to the slaughter?!”

That last sentence carved an icy knife deep into Lukas’ heart. “No! Gods, no! I would nev—!”

“Save it, asshole!” Kaiman growled as he slid out one knife with a chilling grind. “Playing the innocent card ain’t goin’ to spare your smoke happy ass! When we’re through with you, I’m going to make your little _monument_ here look saintly! After that… I think a nice big bonfire suits what’s left of you, just like what do did to your victims…”

Lukas was silent, his mind racing to find something, anything, that would clear his name even as the pair broke off into opposite directions, cutting off any path to escape. Their words hurt, but he couldn’t really refute them, not when the only evidence that could have helped him out was dead at his feet and their blood staining him. He didn’t want to fight the only two people he considered to be friends in this strange land, so he tried to stall for time.

“Listen! You got to believe me that this—!” Suddenly a particular scent drifted to his nose and halted his tongue. It was familiar, a gross stench far stronger than any scourge beast, and there was a faint rumble that grew with it at an alarming rate. Eyes widening in realization, he jumped down the corpse pile and rushed towards his friends. “Not now… GET BACK!”

“In your dreams, bast—!”

Suddenly the floor around the sewage grate erupted, sending chunks of concrete and body parts flying everywhere with a rain of blood while the rest fell into a newly formed pit in the ground.

Climbing out of the hole was something that could be described as a living nightmare. Standing taller than any scourge beast, its head reaching two-thirds of the way to the ceiling, it was a grotesque abomination with a malnourished body that was borderline skeletal. Thick clumps of dark grey fur clung to its shoulders, though thinned out considerably further down to reveal gaunt skin that matched the color of its hair. One arm and hand were far larger than the other, with thick hair that barely obscured the disgusting deformed muscles protruding in places where they shouldn’t. Claws, sharp and cruel, curled menacingly in each fist before reaching out longingly to the living meat before it. But it was the head that unnerved all but the seasoned hunter—resembling something between a wolf’s and a deer’s, but with skin peeled back and mutilated beyond reckoning while a pair of horns, chipped and jaggedly sharp, extended outwards towards the uncaring ceiling.

It huffed for a moment, a gurgling sound that made it seem like the very act of breathing brought itself pain, before lifting up its blacken gaze to leer at its prey. Suddenly its mouth opened, revealing row upon row of ravenous teeth, then letting out a bone chilling howl. Yet it wasn’t one of rage or even murderous glee. It was a wail of pure agony and unspeakable suffering.

There was one name for this monstrosity, one that Lukas was quite familiar with—The Cleric Beast.

Every single cell in Nikaido’s body froze as that horrid wail ended. She couldn’t think, couldn’t hear anything, and couldn’t breathe. The only thing she could do was stare at the nightmarish monster as her legs began to buckle. However a single thought that did cross her mind—fear. Fear so terrible and unnerving that it left her completely rooted to the ground instead of fleeing in terror. Never in her life had she felt such an overwhelming tidal wave of primal emotion, not since the last days of her childhood before she came to Hole. But this creature woke something in her, forcing her brain to acknowledge a truth that no other sane person would dare admit or want to know. That this monster was _real_ and it was hungry for her blood.

So paralyzed, she didn’t even realize that the beast’s large claw was bearing down at her.

“Nikaido!!!” yelled Kaiman, but his words couldn’t reach her ears.

Suddenly, something slammed into her side, sending her barreling to the floor and narrowly missing the deformed claw. She let grunted as a heavy weight landed on top of her, splashing something wet on her face. Blinking away the horror that clouded her mind, she raised a hand to her cheeks before pulling back to see that it was blood. But it wasn’t _hers_.

Looking up, she saw Lukas slowly rising with a large gash carved into his side, adding to the already ruined crimson stains on his coat.

“Lukas…?” she uttered, unsure what to make of the supposed Sorcerer saving her life.

“Stay down and out of sight,” he said, his eyes flickering over her body for a moment, making sure she was ok, before turning to face the hulking monster. “I’ll deal with this beast… Make a run for it after I draw it away… Don’t worry, I’ll keep you and Kaiman safe…”

As the fear momentarily released its grip on her mind, so many questions quickly assaulted her, but the one that blurted out her mouth was, “W-What is that thing?!”

“…My prey…”

The abomination’s agonized howl bellowed at the young man challengingly, its huge arm raised to crush him, but Lukas surprised both it and Nikaido by leaping at the giant claw. Flying high up, grabbed ahold of some thick fur, swiping his saw deep into malformed flesh, and tore the monster’s arm apart ferociously. Chunks of hide flew and a spray of blood descended upon the two stunned _humans_. Letting out another howl, the monster swung its arm down, dragging Lukas along with it, before slamming into the floor. More concrete fell into the giant hole, causing it to grow considerably, but the intended target of its rage managed to escape by leaping onto a nearby scaffold.

Grabbing a flintlock pistol from his coat pocket, Lukas raised it at the monster, just as a claw swiped at him, and fired. To Nikaido’s surprise, it reeled back, a fresh hole burrowed in its shoulder, staining its messy fur with thick, red blood. But Lukas didn’t allow it a moment of reprieve. Stepping onto the rails, he jumped, breaking the fragile metal, before landing onto the beast’s uninjured shoulder.

Clinging to the thick hair, Lukas unrelentingly tore into the monster, ripping mangled flesh all over its head, chipping off bits of horn in the process, and spraying blood haphazardly all over the both of them. A furious shriek wheezed out the horrible creature’s maw, flailing around wildly to try to knock the hunter off. It did little to stop the brutal onslaught, but Lukas’s rampage did slow down a bit, enough for the beast to make a grab at him. Seeing the sharp claw heading his way, the blood stained youth quickly slammed his saw into the beast’s shoulder, digging deep till he reached bone, before twisting out of reach from the sharp claw.

Howling madly, the beast stumbled back a step till a foot caught on some old machinery, sending it and Lukas crashing through a wall and into the factory yard.

Nikaido stood rooted to the floor, unable to take her eyes away from the gigantic hole in in the wall and the bloody trail leading outside. She seen brutal fighting before, both here in Hole and back where once came from, but _this…_ this was nothing short of true carnage. And by the one she accused of being a Sorcerer. She was still trying to process what just happened, yet as the bloodbath continued to escalate, she finally realized two things.

The first being that Lukas was literally putting his life on the line against an abomination beyond any nightmare she could cook up. It should’ve been obvious after seeing Lukas take a hit for her, but the shock of seeing a literal giant monster slowed the full weight of that truth till now. The second realization was the fact that Lukas didn’t use any smoke. Not once in the span of his fight with the beast did he use any magic, only using weapons and tools that regular Sorcerers’ distained. Not to mention that the blood he lost in the carnage didn’t have the black particles that labeled a Sorcerer to everyone.

Combing the two realizations together, Nikaido knew she judged her employee unfairly and had to set things right. Steeling her resolve to hold her previous terror at bay, she quickly jumped to her feet and ran to the newly made hole.

“Nikaido!” called Kaiman. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”

“Saving my employee!”

Kaiman couldn’t believe what just happened. One minute he and Nikaido were going to gut another Sorcerer, but everything went straight to hell when that monster showed up. It was a terror in every sense of the word, but to his greater shock was the fact that Lukas threw himself at it, saving his best friend in the process. For a split second he thought the monster was Lukas’ pet, but after seeing him tear literal holes out of it with a ferocity that would’ve put a butcher to shame, he knew that idea was a load of crap. Now all he could do was sit back as many questions raged inside him. What was going on? What kind of hell spawned that beast? Why was Lukas protecting him and Nikaido after they were going to murder him?

All those questions quickly went out the window the moment Nikaido chased after the beast in order to save her young employee. Despite his shock, Kaiman quickly found himself running after her. No matter how confusing, if not insane, the situation was, he wasn’t going to let his friend face that freak of nature alone.

Slipping two knives out of their sheaths, he sprinted out the hole and into the yard. Pale moonlight dimly lit the night, allowing Kaiman to see the lumbering form of the beast swiping at the swift prey scurrying passed its feet. The monster’s face, he noticed, was almost completely mangled. Its skinned ripped off, leaving bloody muscle exposed to the elements and an eye was now missing from its socket.

“I told you to run!” Lukas yelled before shooting at the monster, grasping its attention. “This prey is mine alone!

“Like hell I am!” Nikaido shot back, grasping some rusty chain with a hook from an abandoned rack before swiping it at the monster’s unprotected back. “I’m not going to let you fight this terror alone, Lukas! You already shed enough blood on my account!”

“Now’s not the time to argue! Just flee while I still have its attention!” Twisting out of reach of the beast’s deformed large hand, Lukas spun around, his saw extending with a click before carving a gruesome gash into the monster’s left calf. In response, the beast shot out a foot with surprising speed, slamming right into the young man’s chest. Flying across the yard like a human sized sorcerer ball, Lukas crashed into a brick wall of a shed, cracking it apart as he coughed an unhealthy amount of blood through his bandana.

“Lukas!” cried Nikaido. Steeling herself, she flung herself at the beast, flailing at it till the chain sunk into its grotesque hide. To her surprise, however, the monster ignored her, simply lurching forth towards its downed prey and dragging the muscular woman along with it. Letting out a chilling scream, the beast reached down and grasped the young man with its large hand.

Suddenly a knife sunk into its remaining eye, sending it reeling back with an agonized scream, dropping Lukas to claw at its face. Madden by pain and the loss of its sight, the beast went absolutely wild, flailing around and forcing Nikaido to leave her chain less she got caught in its rampage.

Seeing his throw did better than he expected, Kaiman rushed forward, ducking under a hairy arm to reach the coughing young man. Hefting him up, he dragged Lukas out of the beast’s reach.

“Kaiman!” Nikaido yelled before running over to them. “Is he…?”

“He’s a live, but pretty messed up…” Running an eye over Lukas, he could tell immediately that the kid needed medical attention, especially with those gaping gashes at his sides. Though he was honestly surprised that the beast’s kick didn’t obliterate his abdomen. “Let’s get out of here while that freak is busy wrecking everything apart.”

“No…” Kaiman blinked at that hoarse cough before looking down to see Lukas was still conscious. “I need to kill that beast _now_ …”

“Are you crazy?! That monster just flung you around like a ragdoll!”

“We need to get you to a hospital, Lukas,” added Nikaido before turning her gaze to the monster. “Don’t worry, we’ll get a mob going and des—”

Her words were cut short as Lukas suddenly pushed off Kaiman, surprising the both of them as he stood upright with nary a tremble of weakness.

“Don’t worry about me,” he said, “I’ll be fine for now, but that beast must be slaughtered before it runs amok in Hole…” He paused for a moment, narrowing he gaze as he took in the Cleric Beast in its entirety. “I got to thank you, Kaiman… You made my job easier by blinding it.”

Kaiman couldn’t believe what he was hearing, let alone watching Lukas _calmly_ talk like he wasn’t standing at death’s door. “Are you mental?! I only made it pissed off!”

“Exactly… a beast who is calm and clever is more dangerous than one clouded by pain and rage… Just need to hit its last few weak points to take it down.”

“Like what exactly?” asked Nikaido, unsure of where her employee was getting at or even if he was in the right mind set at the moment.

“It’s legs. More accurately its knees aren’t too good. For all its powerful size and speed, the Cleric Beast isn’t all the dangerous if you’re careful. Hitting it hard and fast now while it’s enraged, we’ll be able to knock it down for the finishing blow.” Pausing for a moment, he rested a hand along his gruesome wounds before letting out a heavy sigh. “Whether or not you make a run for it doesn’t matter to me… Hell, I encourage it. But no matter what, I’m going to finish what I started… and crush that vermin!”

At the youth’s words, an unrelenting shiver went down Kaiman’s spine. Whether it was from how insane the plan sounded to his ears or the fact that it came from a man who looked like he was going to keel over at any moment, he couldn’t say. Yet as he stared at those blood red eyes, he knew with dead certainty, Lukas meant every word. It was crazy, suicidal, and utterly impossible to face a monster like that, no matter how wounded it was… but a part of his brain reminded him that he managed to blind the beast completely. If such a nightmare could bleed, then it was possible that it could die as well.

“…I’m not leaving you now, Lukas,” said, Nikaido, causing both her friends to blink. “If I left my employee to face that monster alone now… then I wouldn’t be able to call myself a good boss now, would I?”

“Nikaido…”

Seeing the fire in her eyes and the hearing the utter determination in her voice, it was enough to push Kaiman to make his decision. “Hmph. Well, if Nikaido’s staying, then I got your back too. Besides… be really shitty to abandon my friends now.”

Lukas stared at two for a moment, his bloody gaze piercing into their souls, before shaking his heads. “…Stubborn fools… but I can’t say I don’t appreciate the help.” He then turned his gaze back to the Cleric Beast, its movements slower now, but still full of wild carnage. “Let’s end to this poor soul then…”

Stepping forward with a surprising quick pace that belied his injuries, Lukas made a beeline for the monster. Kaiman followed closely behind with Nikaido, keeping low as huge claws swung overhead, threatening to take their heads at one wrong move.

Pulling out his pistol again, Lukas fired several shots before jumping just out of reach from a flailing claw. Several bloody pops erupted along the Cleric Beast, enraging it to a towering fury that went beyond human comprehension. Though now blind, it followed the exploding hail of bullets, chasing after Lukas and leaving a bloody trail across the yard as it thrashed around wildly. All the while Kaiman and Nikaido stalked behind, waiting for the chance to strike.

Hefting up a thick beam of steel she found, Nikaido circled around cautiously, eyeing the flailing huge arms that spun without thought or care. It was a difficult situation, not help that that creature continued to be deceptively agile with how quick it was gaining on Lukas. Suddenly, the beast lurched forward, a failed attempt to grab the youth with both hands, leaving his entire back exposed. Seeing her chance, Nikaido launched herself forward, the steel beam raised high then slamming it down at monster’s left knee.

A gruesome crunch echoed through the yard followed by an even worse scream from the beast. Swiping an arm back, its claws carved into the earth to rend apart the one who hurt it. Fortunately, Nikaido already leapt away from the sword-like digits, but not before flinging her beam at the huge hand, allowing herself a small grin at the satisfying crack she made.

As the monster let loose another crescendo of agonized screams, Kaiman made his move. Rushing forward, he slashed at the monster’s right heel. The knife chipped at the toughen hide, but to his dismay it did little breach into its muscle. A surge of panic rose, nearly allowing him to miss a speeding arm descending right for his head. Jumping out of the way, he landed with a grunt just out of the arm’s reach. Grumbling, he started to get up, but paused when he saw a sizable rock not too far away.

Ignoring the bellowing fury behind him, Kaiman felt a rare moment of inspiration take hold. Grabbing the rock, he bolted for the beast’s right leg again, ducking another claw, he swiftly placed his knife right above the tendon. Mustering all his strength, he then slammed the rock down on the knife’s handle. Like a hammer to a nail, the knife sunk immediately into the flesh, hamstringing the heel completely, though at the cost of the knife breaking off.

Wailing at the anguishing pain at his legs, the Cleric Beast tried to get away from his attackers, but like Lukas predicted, it didn’t even make a complete step before collapsing forward. Just a few feet away from the blood stained youth.

Whether it was by instinct or primal fear, the beast shot out its huge claw, but Lukas put a stop to that by slamming his saw into the back of the palm. A disturbing squishy rip could be heard as he shoved the saw-tooth blade through the deformed flesh until it pinned itself into the ground beneath. Howling defiantly, the monster tried again with its remaining hand, but Lukas merely shot its right shoulder.

Flinching as bloody chunks of flesh flew, the Cleric Beast could only scream before Lukas closed the distance between them, his fist raised high before smashing messily through the monster’s head.

It was brutal and unnerving to watch, not helped by a fountain of blood spraying the young man along with bits of bone and grey matter falling out the skull as he removed his fist. For a moment, it was almost enough to make Kaiman vomit, but he kept it together. Though a small part of him, one that wasn’t overwhelmed by adrenaline and shock, was shocked by the raw strength Lukas had to punch a literal hole into a monster like that. Neither he nor Nikaido was that strong!

With what little life it had thoroughly extinguished, the hulking mass collapsed completely, leaving a great pool of dark blood. Panting heavily, Lukas stared at the bloody mess he made, before turning to both Kaiman and Nikaido. “…It was a rough hunt, but we managed to make it through the night… thank you both… and sorry for dragging you both into this mess.”

Kaiman stared silently at the literal bloody youth before turning to Nikaido. Their eyes met for a moment, a mutual understanding passing silently between them, before turning back to Lukas.

“Look… it’s no skin our noses… mostly, but can you tell us what the fuck is going on?!” demanded Kaiman. “For starters, what the hell was that thing?!!”

“Lukas…” said Nikaido, “is this the real reason you been out all night? Killing these… these _things?_ ”

Lukas was silent for a moment, turning his gaze away before letting out a reluctant sigh. “…I guess I have a lot explaining to do, don’t I?”

“You’re god damn right you do!” yelled Kaiman. “You’re not leaving until you explained every single—”

“Before that, I would like to ask for a favor…”

“A favor?” Nikaido repeated.

Lukas nodded, his eyes straying to the gigantic corpse then to the factory to the side. “Yes… help me burn this corpse, and those inside the factory, then I’ll answer all your questions back at the Hungry Bug.”

Kaiman was stunned by the request. “Now hold on! Why do we need to start a bonfire for this piece of crap? It’s deader than dead, ain’t it?!”

“Yes… but I don’t want anyone to come across it or the other bodies. I… I can’t say why, but it’s important that no one gets a hold of these remains.” He then pulled down his bandana, his lips blood smear to match the color of his eyes. “Please… I’ll do anything you want and tell you what I can, but I need to do this…”

Grumbling to himself, Kaiman normally would opposed doing troublesome work like this, without pay no less, but for once he considered it be worth the effort just to find out what was going on and why Lukas was acting all mysterious. Yet before he could agree to the demand, Nikaido spoke up.

“Okay… We’ll help… but on one condition.” Her eyes gleamed as they traveled down to the youth’s torn side. “After we’re finished, we’re heading to the hospital to have Vaux patch you up. Then you can tell us everything.”

Lukas was silent for a moment, his crimson gaze lingering in Nikaido’s blue. “…Fine. It’s a deal.”

By the stroke of midnight, a calm had taken over Hole. To which the dozing citizens gratefully took over the raucous that came from the SMC factory. An eerie silence was better than the overwhelming noise that woke many and left few able to return to the blissful comfort of dreams. At first they thought a gang war had erupted, but that idea quickly fell apart due to an awful screeching that howled into the night. No words could describe such a horrible sound and those unfortunate enough to hear it were left fleeing in terror.  
Of course such a disturbance would’ve normally raised alarm, but for the citizens of Hole, they knew instinctually that whatever it was, magic was somehow involved. That meant Sorcerers were around.

With that thought in mind, everyone did the only thing they could do when their mortal enemies were involved: they barred their doors, secured their windows, and hid somewhere safe as the night dwindled away. It was their oldest strategy, not the safest admittedly, but one that brought them a measure of comfort. Fortunately, the screaming finally stopped and everyone breathed a sigh of relief before trying to slip back to sleep.

That’s when a draft of choking smoke blew into the city. Those who still couldn’t sleep noticed it immediately, wondering where it was coming from. Leaving the safety of their semi-secure homes, they ventured out into the night and were met with a sight that finally rose concern. Lighting the dark skies a sinister deep red, a great blaze rose from the factory. Shouts of alarm rose like wildfire, forcing those who had finally regain sleep to wake with fright before gathering together to stare at the inferno. It didn’t take long before Hole’s firefighter brigade to arrive and storm the factory. The moment they did, however, they were left dumbstruck with a sight that they would never forget.

Pile together were bodies upon bodies of both humans and something utterly unnatural. Crowning this mass burning was a corpse far larger than the others and far more grotesque. Utterly speechless and deeply horrified, none could even begin to process what those monstrous things were or who caused the fire. In fact there was an unconscious agreement to simply let the blaze take the terrible evidence away.

As the fire continued to burn hot and unyielding, its arsonists quietly skulked away into a dark alley. One leading the way, not once turning back, while the other two occasionally looked at the glowing embers, not saying a word. All they could do was stare mutely at their handy work… and wonder just what hell they accidently stumbled into.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: And here is chapter 2! Sorry it took me so long to make this. I did intend to finish this chapter late September, but my computer came down with a problem due to a Microsoft update and I had to get it fixed. Then afterwards I had someone look over my work and give me a review over my writing style, he's still in a process of the review, but it's super insightful to me and helps improve my writing a bit. But since I feel it's been long enough without a chapter for this story, I decided to publish this chapter, after editing it a lot, so you guys had something to enjoy.
> 
> I will admit, I had fun with chapter. There is something about fighting those giant Cleric Beasts that get me in the writing mood and allows me to think of ways to fight them. Though some of you may be wondering why Lukas didn't kill the beast himself, he is THE Hunter of Bloodborne after all. Well, as some of you have noted or mentioned, I don't want Lukas to be OP as hell in this story, but I don't want to make him weak either. I can't explain too much without giving spoilers, but I will say this, there is a reason WHY he's like he is at the moment. I know that might sound weird, but I'm purposely wording myself like so I don't give anything away. Part of the fun in Bloodborne and Dorohedoro is the mystery after all.
> 
> Anyway, the introduction arc is nearly it's conclusion. And I plan to make it a good and impactful conclusion to boot. Some of you may think that this story is going fast pace, but believe me it isn't. This story, I hope, will be big, but I want to set a good pace so I don't have to take an ice age to get things done.


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